Frank StellaRakow1972
1972
About the Item
- Creator:Frank Stella (1936, American)
- Creation Year:1972
- Dimensions:Height: 27.76 in (70.5 cm)Width: 29.73 in (75.5 cm)
- More Editions & Sizes:UniquePrice: $153,587
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:London, GB
- Reference Number:Seller: 1022401stDibs: LU4708753062
Frank Stella
Frank Stella is one of the central figures in postwar American art. A proponent of minimalism and non-representational abstraction, Stella is a painter, printmaker and sculptor. A native of Massachusetts, he attended Phillips Academy in Andover and earned a BA from Princeton, where he studied art and color theory with Josef Albers and Hans Hofmann.
Stella frequented New York galleries as a student and was intrigued by the work of Jackson Pollock and Franz Kline, both of whom were at the height of their creative powers in the late 1950s. After moving to New York in 1958, he gravitated toward the geometric abstraction and restrained painting style of Barnett Newman and Jasper Johns. Johns’s flat, graphic images of common objects such as targets and flags prompt viewers to question the essential nature of representation and whether these pictures are really paintings or simply new iterations of the items themselves. Stella pushed Johns’s reasoning further, considering paintings on canvas as objects in their own right, like sculptures, rather than representations. This led him to reject certain formal conventions, eschewing sketches and often using nontraditional materials, like house paint.
In 1959, Stella created his “Black Paintings,” series, in which bands of black paint are separated by thin, precise stripes of bare canvas. At a time when contemporary painting was all about wild gestures, thick paint and formal abandon, these pieces created a sensation. That same year, Stella's work was included in the exhibition "Sixteen Americans" at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and he joined the roster of artists represented by Leo Castelli Gallery. In 1960, he began introducing color into his work and using unconventionally shaped canvases to complement his compositions.
In his “Eccentric Polygon” series, from 1965 and ‘66, Stella embraces asymmetry and bold color, creating forms delineated by painted fields and by the edges of the canvas. This series was followed by the 1967–70 “Protractor” series, characterized by colorful circles and arcs. Named after the ancient cities whose circular plans Stella had noticed while traveling in the Middle East during the 1960s, these works usually comprised several canvases set flush against one another so that the geometric figures in each section came together in a larger, more complex whole.
Also in the mid-1960s, Stella started exploring printmaking, initially working with Kenneth Tyler, of Gemini G.E.L., and later installing printing equipment in his own studio. In 1968, he created the “V” series of lithographs,which included the print Quathlamba I. Following a solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in 1970, Stella began working in three dimensions, adding relief elements to paintings, which could almost be considered wall-mounted sculptures.
Stella’s 1970–73 “Polish Village” series was inspired by a documentary photos and architectural drawings of Polish synagogues that had been destroyed by Nazis during World War II. The resulting works — composed primarily of paint and cloth on plywood — are more rugged and less polished than his previous series. Herman Melville's Moby Dick was his muse for a series of three- dimensional works he created in the 1980s in which waveforms, architectural elements and Platonic solids play a prominent role. During this period, Stella embraced a new, exuberant style that is exemplified in "La Scienza della Fiacca." In 1997, he oversaw the creation of the Stella Project, a 5,000-square-foot work inside the Moores Opera House at the University of Houston. A large free-standing sculpture by Stella stands outside the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
Stella’s work is in the collections of numerous important museum collections around the world, including New York’s Museum of Modern Art and Metropolitan Museum of Art; the Menil Collection, in Houston; the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, in Washington, D.C.; and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. He was awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Obama in 2009, and was given the Lifetime Achievement Award in Contemporary Sculpture by the International Sculpture Center in 2011.
Find a collection of Frank Stella's art on 1stDibs.
- 89AS-1By Larry PoonsLocated in London, GBAcrylic and mixed media on canvas, 1989, 25.4 x 120.02 cm. (10 x 47 ½ in.)Category
1980s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Paintings
MaterialsCanvas, Acrylic
Price Upon Request - 01AS-3By Larry PoonsLocated in London, GBAcrylic on canvas, signed, titled and dated verso. 47.6 x 59 cm (18 3/4 x 24 1/4 in)Category
1980s Abstract Expressionist Abstract Paintings
MaterialsCanvas, Acrylic
$46,000 - Atvatabar IBy Frank StellaLocated in London, GBProvenance: Galerie Jamileh Weber, Zurich; Swiss property. Exhibition: Valencia, IVAM Institut Valencià d'Art Modern. 'Frank Stella, From Strictness to Baroque', 12th July - 14th October 2012. Literature: Exhibition catalogue: 'Frank Stella, From Strictness to Baroque', Valencia, IVAM Institut Valencià d'Art Modern, 2012, pages 62-63, full page color illustration; Süddeutsche Zeitung, Magazin. No. 6, 9.2.1996. Vorsicht, frisch gestrichen, Ein Besuch im Atelier Frank Stella, page 31...Category
Late 20th Century Abstract Abstract Paintings
MaterialsResin, Fiberglass, Acrylic
Price Upon Request - TsillagBy Victor VasarelyLocated in London, GBHand-painted acrylic on wood three-dimensional multiple, 1990, signed and numbered from the edition of 175 in ink, 52.7 x 61 x 7.9 cm. (20 3/4 x 24 x 3 1/8 in.)Category
1990s Op Art Abstract Prints
MaterialsWood, Acrylic
$25,597 - Grodno (I)By Frank StellaLocated in London, GBUnique cotton-pulp relief with collage and hand-colouring, on white and coloured HMP handmade paper, 1975, signed and dated in pencil, from the edition of 26 uniquely hand-coloured reliefs (there were also 14 trial proofs), published by Tyler Graphics, Ltd., New York, with their blindstamp, 64 x 54 cm. (25¼ x 21¼ in.) Catalogue Raisonne: Axsom 106.1 The series ‘Paper Reliefs’ is based on the earlier ‘Polish Village Series’ (1971-73) with the use of relief elements to create the geometric structures which pay homage to the complex architecture of Soviet and Polish wooden synagogues from 16th, 17th and 18th century. The titles of the ‘Paper Reliefs’ are names of cities, settlements or districts where such synagogues were destroyed during the Holocaust. This series is not intended to be a memorial but rather a celebration of these beautiful, intricate structures and the skilful carpentry of the Jewish architects and craftsmen. Stella and Master Printmaker, Ken Tyler...Category
1970s Abstract Abstract Prints
MaterialsCotton, Handmade Paper
- Psychiatric IllnessLocated in London, GBA punched photographic plate and book, signed, titled and dated on the backing board, housed in a plexiglass box.Category
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Mixed Media
MaterialsPhotographic Paper
- "Dense Space", abstract, orange, black, red, purple, mixed media, paintingBy Sylvia Vander SluisLocated in Natick, MASylvia Vander Sluis’s “Dense Space” is a tactile and colorful abstract mixed media collage on canvas. Black and orange dominate with touches of red and purple. In this 24 x 24 x 1.5 ...Category
2010s Abstract Mixed Media
MaterialsFabric, Felt, Paper, Acrylic, Woodcut
- "Withering on the Vine" - Abstract Expressionist Contemporary Painting, 2021Located in San Diego, CAAn original, fine art, abstract expressionist painting, "Withering on the Vine" combines abstracted floral motifs with gestural markings. Created in 2021 by a...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Abstract Paintings
MaterialsCanvas, Charcoal, Acrylic, Graphite, Pigment
- 'As Above So Below' by Steven H. Rehfeld - Large Bright Textured AbstractBy Steven H. RehfeldLocated in Carmel, CASteven H. Rehfeld's "All Over the Place" is a dynamic 42" x 72" abstract mixed media piece, reflecting the title's essence through a bold and unfettered composition. Its sprawling vi...Category
2010s Abstract Abstract Paintings
MaterialsCanvas, Oil, Acrylic, Pencil
- Resonate #1By Jodi FuchsLocated in Los Angeles, CAJodi Fuchs creates artworks that speak to the chaos and stillness (and the reconciliation of these two forces) that is inherent in the human experience. She...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Abstract Paintings
MaterialsCanvas, Mixed Media, Acrylic, Graphite
- Prayer Flags #3By Jodi FuchsLocated in Los Angeles, CAJodi Fuchs' abstract expressionistic artworks emanate undeniable energy and captivate the eye with their vibrant colors and dynamic brushstrokes. Influenced by the metaphysical aspec...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Abstract Paintings
MaterialsCanvas, Mixed Media, Acrylic, Graphite
- Resonate #2By Jodi FuchsLocated in Los Angeles, CAJodi Fuchs creates artworks that speak to the chaos and stillness (and the reconciliation of these two forces) that is inherent in the human experience. She...Category
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Abstract Paintings
MaterialsCanvas, Mixed Media, Acrylic, Graphite
Recently Viewed
View AllRead More
Get to Know the Artists Who Led the Op Art Movement
In the 1960s and '70s, the hypnotic creations of Op artists went mainstream and influenced the look of pop culture.
Shapero Modern’s Director Tells Us All about 20th-Century Prints
Tabitha Philpott-Kent knows a lot of art multiples. Here, the London gallery director talks about what makes printmaking so fabulous.